About a year ago, the couple traded their 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom house in the Meadowvale area of Mississauga for life aboard a floating home. They gave away most of their furniture and possessions to their daughter to use in her apartment and sold or donated other items to charity.

The couple's livable space now translates to about one-third of their sailing yacht's 394-square-foot area. Throw in the reality of no private shower, no bathtub or washer/dryer – with winters spent under a plastic shrink wrap secured with duct tape for warmth – and landlubbers might wonder what compels anyone to live aboard.

Hughes and Finlay insist they have never regretted their decision. They love their boat and life on the water, whether it's cruising Lake Ontario or watching the sun rise over Mississauga's Port Credit Yacht Club (PCYC), just east of Cawthra Rd.

Tomorrow, they plan to celebrate Canada Day with other PCYC members by cruising to Hamilton. On previous Canada Days they've sailed to Ontario Place and the Toronto Islands to watch the fireworks, twice from land and once from the water, says Hughes, 49.

Their boat is part of a community of about 25 that have people living aboard at the PCYC; there are another 40 such vessels at the nearby Port Credit Harbour Marina and 30 at Toronto's Marina Quay West, says Finlay.

These "live-aboards" represent a cross-section of sailing enthusiasts: Hughes and Finlay have met retirees, a police officer and a film producer who have opted for life on the water.

"We're on vacation all the time," comments Finlay, 50, who works in corporate IT for a Mississauga company. "You just get within a mile of the lake and your stress level goes down."

The couple first hoisted sail five years ago after vacationing in Jamaica. They took out a small dinghy and after a two-minute lesson, "we never looked back," says Hughes. After returning to Canada, they both took the Canadian Yachting Association's White Sail 1 course (and have since taken additional courses) and then bought a CL 16 (a 16-foot dinghy).

After a year, they moved up to a 22-foot yacht – a Tansa 22 – then an Aloha 27 and their current Aloha 34, which they bought second-hand this April for $60,000.

They plan to eventually add $30,000 worth of cruising-oriented modifications, including solar panels, a wind generator and upgraded electronics, says Hughes.

The boat is sloop rigged with a main sail and a foresail, a keel-stepped mast and has a 27-hp diesel engine. The couple christened it Aslan's Wind, from the pages of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Finlay had been a particular fan of the Narnia tales while growing up and Hughes says she liked the way Aslan's Wind sounded.

"So it was a compromise," she says, laughing. "We must have a good relationship, because we don't mind living this close at all," she adds.

What brought them to this lifestyle change was a growing realization that their enthusiasm for sailing meant loosening their emotional tie to conventional home ownership.

"The more time you spend on your boat...it seems that you're just going home to mow your grass," Finlay says.

Before becoming live-aboards (as opposed to ``dirt dwellers,'' the term the couple uses for those who are terra firma-bound), Hughes and Finlay tried to squeeze in as much time as possible on the water. Now that they live on the lake without a standard home to maintain, they have adopted a more carefree attitude toward sailing, usually cruising only on weekends, he says.

Some imagine that an on-board lifestyle modelled after the TV series Miami Vice "would be fun," says Finlay. "But the first time they have to leave their boat in -30C weather to use the shower in the marina is when people start thinking about renting an apartment instead."

To prepare for winter, they shrink-wrap their boat in plastic fastened with duct tape. Since the sailboat is a small space with a significant volume below the waterline, it heats up quickly, she says.

"In the wintertime, we love sitting underneath the bubble of shrink wrap. As soon as the sun comes up you don't need any heat. In fact we have to open a door because it can get from 90 to 100 degrees (32C to 38C) in the boat," says Finlay, adding that with the exception of days when the temperature plummets, the two sit around in T-shirts.

Another popular misconception floating around is that living aboard is an easy way to save cash. But Hughes explains that with the money they pay out as live-aboards to the PCYC ($6,500 yearly, which includes slip rental, hydro, electrical and annual club fees, plus a requirement to spend $60 monthly in the club restaurant, in addition to a one-time club initiation fee of $2,500), they could rent a one or two-bedroom apartment in Mississauga with "exotic luxuries" such as a private bathroom and more than 30 amps of power, she says.

But they would miss life on the water.

"We actually feel that this is a three-bedroom apartment," Finlay says of their living space – the cockpit, the downstairs with its galley equipped with sink, three-burner stove and oven, a fridge, microwave and a seating area that can be converted to extra beds; the head with shower next to the V-berth at the bow, which serves as the couple's bedroom.

Besides, they lived in just a few rooms in their Mississauga home, they say.

"About 90 per cent of the time we were in the family room sitting and watching TV and then we'd sleep in the same bed. Why do you feel that you need 50 yards on each side of your bed in order to feel comfortable?" Finlay asks, his leg tucked under him, pausing to smile at the sky.

The sailing yacht has enough storage space for six months of provisions, he says, with additional room for some ``luxuries'': room to sleep six, a computer that doubles as a TV, a cellphone (Finlay carries a BlackBerry), a 15 centimetre by 75 centimetre wood-burning fireplace on the wall, which is vented to a chimney that goes out through the deck, while a metal barbecue mounted to the stern's port side is fuelled by a portable propane tank.

Hughes says extra heat is supplied by a single electric heater at half power, with an electric blanket and a second heater for cold snaps. Although the boat is equipped with a fan, it's unnecessary in the summer, since it's much cooler on the lake, even on scorching days, she says.

To replenish their fresh water tanks, they use a hose in the summer and jerry cans in the winter. (Boats such as theirs aren't equipped to hook directly into city water lines.)

"We're not the most diligent of live-aboards about conserving water, but even so, we only need to fill up our 60-gallon capacity tanks about once a month," says Hughes, adding that the couple uses even less when at anchor.

Hughes and Finlay wintered in the Port Credit Harbour Marina in their Aloha 27 but sailed to the PCYC in May after buying their Aloha 34. They were attracted to the club's splashy amenities, including a heated outdoor pool. They also use the well-equipped showers and laundry, as they did at the Port Credit Harbour Marina.

As well, the PCYC is adjacent to the Mississauga Sailing Club, where Hughes, who retired from customer service a year ago, is volunteer social director. (Although the MSC is a dinghy club, she says the couple maintains their membership for its facilities and friendly members.) Hughes also voluntarily plans PCYC's monthly excursions on Lake Ontario.

"When you are in a house, sometimes you don't even know your neighbours. We maybe knew one neighbour when we lived there," says Finlay of the last five years spent as dirt dwellers. At the PCYC the two have met about 40 of the boat owners.

In the winter all live-aboard vessels are clustered close to the clubhouse, which encourages social interaction, Hughes says.

More adventures lie ahead. In three years, Hughes and Finlay plan to leave the safe harbour for the high seas – they want to cruise down the Intracoastal Waterway to Florida, then on to the Bahamas and possibly Cuba and other Caribbean ports of call.

Such a lifestyle can be surprisingly economical. "The average cruiser can live quite well on $25,000 a year," says Finlay.

They want to make this a permanent move, returning the first few summers to visit with friends and family (their 24-year-old daughter, Shauna Finlay, doesn't share their enthusiasm for sailing, they say). Of course, they'll have to consider several factors, including finding employment once the money runs out.

But for now they're happy living aboard while they plan a two-week sailing trip this summer, possibly around the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River.

"We'll go wherever the wind takes us," he says.

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